My Weight Loss Site: How I Applied the 10 Steps to Internet Business Success
A guest post by Matthew Denos
After reading carefully Michael’s 10 Steps to Internet Business Success series, I couldn’t help asking him to write a guest post that would testify to the effectiveness of his proven strategy. I followed the exact same steps two years ago to create my first site, a weight loss blog through which I made my first money online.
Before I started my weight loss site, I spent a small fortune on get-rich-quick schemes contributing to the success of those who created the schemes, whether it was the up-line of an MLM or the owner of a product that promised fast money; you know, the too-good-to-be-true type of money.
It was not until I understood the concept of Internet business success the way Michael presents it in these 10 steps that I started building a successful affiliate marketing site; one that could be scaled up and out.
In this article, I would like to look at Michael’s 10 steps, one by one, and tell you how I followed and implemented them to grow a small, yet profitable Internet venture.
This was fundamental for me. I read a number of books that helped me understand this principle, like Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and Stuart Lichtman’s “How to Make Lots of Money for Anything Fast”, to name a few.
As Michael says, a clear vision need not be complicated. It’s core elements are these two:
- Define exactly what you want (i.e how much money). Find the emotional reason that stands behind your goal. My initial goal was to make $100 a day. The emotional reason was my desire to move from the US to beautiful Greece and live a life that is independent of the ups and downs of the economy.
- Set a time frame for the goal to be achieved. I determined I would reach my goal within 12 months.
My vision was the type of vision that Michael describes as “a way out of misery”. I was unhappy in my job and I saw an online business as a way out of misery. Of course that made me fall prey to a few scammers, initially. Thankfully, my strong desire to succeed and the clear idea of what I wanted, brought me back to the right track.
Given my professional background, I decided my site would be about weight loss. As a biologist, I know a lot about human physiology, fitness, and diets. In addition, I have been known as “the calorie man” since I was a teenager, because of my interest in nutrition and food science.
In the online business realm, however, academic knowledge will not help much if it is not coupled with a in-depth understanding of what your audience needs. You can have excellent educational credentials, and yet, if you are ignorant of the human need you cannot succeed online.
So, I took the proper action to learn everything about the problem my weight loss market has. I researched relevant blogs. I read thousands of comments in forums written by dieters and overweight people who were struggling to lose weight. I interviewed Jeff, Bob, my overweight friends, and …even my mother and sister to identify their problem and see how it “is linked to an underlying emotional need”—an important step that Michael explains.
3. Identify Existing Solutions
After I identified the pressing need, I searched for solutions. I asked myself the same question Michael is asking in step 3: Where is the money being spent online right now? In my case, the exact question was: What are overweight people buying to lose weight? How are existing products helping people achieve the slim body they desire? How can I get a piece of the pie as an affiliate?
Of course the weight loss industry is full of scams and fad diets. I had to research very carefully to identify proven products; products that have a history of success, are backed by clinical studies or at least real testimonials, and have been used successfully already by millions of people. It did not take me long to find diet programs that fulfill these criteria, such as the Weight Watchers diet plan, the Nutrisystem meal replacement diet, and the Medifast weight management program.
I used Google’s Keyword Tool (GKT) to check what people are searching that relates to the weight loss products I chose to become affiliated with.
Unfortunately, as Michael points out, while keyword tools provide information on specific search terms, they tell you nothing about what products are being purchased nor whether or not these keyword terms are profitable.
For example, GKT will tell you that 3,600 people are looking for “best weight loss programs” monthly, but the tool leaves no clue on what weight loss programs are being purchased and what diets people are making money from.
This is why it is important that you target a group of similar keywords, what Michael calls “primary” and “secondary” keywords. You never know which will perform better, in the end.
I searched the global monthly search for several keywords, such as:
- Medifast review
- Does Weight Watchers work?
- Medifast coupon
- Nutrisystem review
- Nutrisystem discount
- etc,
and identified keywords that people type when they seek a solution rather than sheer information. I went after focused keywords, like “best weight loss programs”, rather than general ones, like “weight loss programs”.
As Michael says: “We want solutions focused visitors hitting our site, not people in the early stages of research.” Of course, the weight loss niche is very competitive and you have to be mentally prepared to work hard. As an example, the keyword “Weight Watchers coupon” has 6,600 searches monthly and 283,000 competing sites. Not for the faint of heart.
5. Focus on Target Traffic – Reality Check
Early on I understood that I should focus on targeted traffic. Michael puts it very well when he says: “it is difficult to sell a solution to a person looking for general directions or instructions.” In this sense, it is easier to sell a weight loss program to somebody who is looking for “best weight loss programs for women” than one who is looking for “weight loss programs”.
Of course, I realized that as I was getting too narrow with my keywords, the traffic volume would be lower and so would the potential earning capacity. To compensate for that I had to target many similar keywords, such as “top weight loss programs”, “top weight management diets”, “best diets for losing weight”, etc, which cumulatively would bring the desired traffic.
My research focused not only on the general topic of my site (weight loss) but mainly on the products I was promoting. I researched everything I could about Medifast, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Bistro MD, etc. Here are a few questions I researched, which by the way, correspond to real keywords that people are searching on Google (I got them from my Google Analytics account):
- How does Medifast work?
- Medifast studies
- Compare Medifast to Weight Watchers
- Does Nutrisystem have lots of carbohydrates?
- How fast do people lose weight on Nutrisystem?
- How is Nutrisystem delivered?
- Is there any coupons for Nutrisystem for added savings?
As I said, I decide to take the affiliate marketing route since it is simpler than making my own product. I promote products that I am absolutely sure they work.
While I did not try the products myself, I interviewed people who did. I took any action I could to convince my site’s visitors and myself that the products are effective, safe and trustworthy.
As an example, I did extensive laboratory tests to see if a weight loss pill named Hoodia—a product I was interested in marketing at some point—was authentic and contained the active phytochemical substance p53, a natural appetite suppressant. (Hoodia is made from the cactus Hoodia gordonii. It is imported from Africa and has been associated with scams and adulteration because its supply is very limited and the demand huge.)
As Michael explains, it is very important to design your site in a way that allows you to capture your visitors email address. The reason is that visitors to your site are generally not prepared to buy something. So, confronting them with a sales page about Medifast or Nutrisystem would make them feel I hit them over the head. It is much better to build trust with your visitor and you can achieve that through a squeeze page.
However, I have noticed that the more targeted my visitors are the easier it is to make a sale. For example, when people land on my blog after typing on Google a keyword that is very close to their buying decision (i.e where can I buy Medifast), I do not need a squeeze page. I just let them click through my affiliate link. However, if they land on my site after looking for “best weight loss programs”, a squeeze certainly helps.
9. Collect Email Addresses and Send Follow-up Emails
This is a step I am still working on. I am preparing a series of follow-up emails that will be sent to my subscribers using Aweber. Michael’s first email sample is very helpful. I like it and I believe it will be very effective. It does not try to sell, instead it engages the reader and invites them to learn more about the product. I am looking forward to your e-book Michael with sample text for the other emails!
I used all methods that Michael describes in order to get free traffic. I got referral traffic from relevant blogs and forums. I got free traffic from articles that I published in directories, hubpages and lenses on Squidoo.
However, most of the free traffic my weight loss site is enjoying to date is a result of several guest posts I have published, like the one you are now reading. The backlinks my site gets from guest posts like this one improve my site’s rankings in the search engines and increase its monthly free traffic. www.WeightLossTriumph.com is now receiving 1,000 a day.
As Michael said, “no one has it all worked out”. I have still a long way to go. I am thankful to people who take the time to clearly explain the steps one needs to take to succeed online.
Over to you. How do you relate to the 10 Steps to Internet Business Success?
What action have you taken so far?
Matthew Denos is a biologist and Internet entrepreneur who is working on his goal to become a successful affiliate marketer. His current venture includes a weight loss blog where he offers a coupon for Nutrisystem food and a Medifast coupon code discount for April, two medically designed weight loss meal replacement plans.
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Twitter: stevenpapas
says:
Thanks a lot Matthew. I read your article with great interest and I understood how you applied the 10 Steps to Business Success. It helped me better understand Michael’s previous posts. My site is about software and follows the affiliate marketing model, too.
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Hi Steven,
I visited your site and it looks great. I am glad this case study helped you better understand how the 10 Steps can be applied. Each site is different so I believe each of us has their own story. But, in the end, following the 10 Steps are what makes us succeed online.
Twitter: simply1software
says:
Hi Matthew,
I believe it is very important for us to focus not only on targeted traffic but also on free traffic. I have recently launched my blog simply1software.com and have already started seeing some encouraging results. By gathering quality backlinks my site’s traffic has increased. This is free traffic from the organic listings. I find Michael’s advise of getting my link published in at least 5 different sites each day for at least 10 days something I want to try.
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Hi John,
I want to do this, too. I have a list of blogs that have the CommentLuv plug in. My goal is to start commenting on these blogs and record my site’s progress. Thank you for your nice comment.
Twitter: blogsterblogsire.com
says:
Excellent, I loved the way you broke the steps down and explained what each meant to you and how you used them to achieve your goals. I am a little perplexed though as to why you want to move to Greece as I thought they had a struggling economy. Then again if you have a good online business it doesn’t really matter where you live.
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Greece does have have a struggling economy, but you really don’t care when you have built your own online business. Greek islands are very beautiful!
Hi Matthew, thanks for contributing the guest post for publication. I really appreciate the time you took to put your experience into writing and link it to my 10 part series. I just realised I had published the same image for #3 and #5, sorry. It’s all fixed up now. Michael.
You are welcome Michael. It was an honor to contribute!
Good article
thanks for sharing
Fernando de Moraes from Brazil
I like your list on how to become successful in online marketing. I guess what I lack is email marketing and upon reading this post, it’s time to spend some effort in including it on my marketing strategy lists.
Twitter: WholesalePages
says:
I am still not enter in the world of affiliate marketing rather I am much into the online promotion of the businesses. The main difference between the affiliate marketing is that you need to make sales by hook or by crook because this is the only way from which you can earn but the online business is bit different thing you are more into introducing something new rather than to make people buy.
These 10 steps can be more useful for the online business marketing as you do have the biog room to capture the customer by giving him information to your business, as you are selling your own services and products you are in position to give offers and discounts which makes the customer happy.
That is an interesting angle William. Having your own products and/or services is certainly a bonus compared with selling something belonging to someone else.
Very nice article.The points were clear and straight forward.The points were explained very well. And are very useful for new bloggers. Thanks.
Very interesting. I had considered doing something similar so this will be useful. In regards to the keyword research I think it is important to also assess the quality of the competition. E.g. on a very basic level one can use the intitle and/or inanchor operator to identify the number of sites targeting your keyword directly. Something I learned from building my KM site is that one hundred thousand competitors for one query can be harder than one million for another.
Hi Matthew.
Thanks a lot. I’ve read those 10 steps that you’ve posted before. And I’ve been thinking what’s the most effective way to implement it. Thanks a lot.
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Hey Matthew, this was a nice step by step guide I have considered some affiliate marketing but have thought it may be to overwhelming I may just have to give it a try.
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Nice post. Really informative, will surely help me in writing future posts for my blog. One more thing, I have started a new blog and offering a dofollow backlink for comluv members. So take this opportunity to check out my blog, leave some feedback and get a backlink.
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Thanks so much for sharing this one. I believe this is indeed very helpful to all the bloggers out there specially to me since am only new at this. I was pretty much excited to learn about your tips and i can wait to apply them when i start doing it. I really find your article interesting. Hoping to read more of your articles!
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Nice post! It is very helpful and inspirational. The article is very informative. I like how the article was written. the content of the article is very sensible. I really know that online job for examples are sometimes not reliable. there are lots of scam online and it’s hard to trust. But in order for you to succeed, you must be careful and like follow all what you had mentioned above, Im looking forward to read more of your articles..:)
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Hi Matthew,
This really helps with understanding Michael’s 10 steps the way you wrote this using examples and will soon implement this method myself.
Cheers!
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Wonderful article. Can be really helpful for every one to their your online business. Thanks for sharing
Hey Matthew,
Excellent read.
After reading your post I have concluded that these are the basic building blocks internet business success for any niche though you have tested only on weight loss domain.
Regards,
Sophie
The key thing is finding the words that people will use to find your products.if you choose the wrong words people will not find your site.Once on site the, information needs to be easy to read, clear type and clean uncluttered backgrounds.
Twitter: polanskimax
says:
I think that identifying a need is most important. When people want something, they want it and these people become some of the best product converters. Finding a niche where people would do anything to solve their problems, is a niche that will make you money. The hard part is finding a NEW niche like this…
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Hi Matthew,
Nice post.The steps are really worth trying.I like the point about being clear in mind and havindg a proper mindset before embarking on the journey to the corporate world.
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Terrific blog and advise that you have here. I am now pushing my clients more about what they want to achieve and what will make them unique in the web world. Tough questions but it gets them on the right track from the beginning.
Keep up the good work
Not bad, though if everyone kept these rules in mind we’d all have a lot more competition…ah well nothing wrong with healthy competition!
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Twitter: coreyrab
says:
Guest blogging is the absolute best way to get links and traffic in my opinion. It is much more effective than all other techniques. Thanks for the list!
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Twitter: goldalliancegrp
says:
Great tips. I am always amazed at the quality traffic I get from free sources to include guest posts, article marketing and (giveaway) ebooks. This far outstrips any traffic I get from pay per click ads. Good quality free traffic is definitely the way to build an online business.
I have to agree with what you have said. This is an awesome read with heaps of info. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and follow it whenever I get the chance
. Thanks
You hit the nail on the head about Google’s keyword tool. It’s an important tool to use, but it’s not the end all be all. Google can’t tell you which items people are purchasing. There are tools out there that say which keywords they think will lead to sales, but it’s hard to know how accurate they are.
Good points you have in there. I strongly agree with tip number 1. Having a clear vision lets you know where you want to go and what you should do to get there.
You have a very creative point of using your weight loss tips for business. Every thing has sense and I believe that you got your goal on having the perfect body and with your goal to have a perfect business online.
Thanks so much for sharing this one. I strongly agree with tip number 1. Having a clear vision lets you know where you want to go and what you should do to get there.
This is really very good and informative article. The content was well chosen and well explained too. I am bookmarking it for my future reference. Thanks have a good day Matthew.
Obviously, don’t re-open a topic that has already a proven solution. Instead find a very popular one that is still a mystery even up to now and find ways to unlock it. Very profound tips you have here, thumbs up!
Hey Mika, that’s the key. Finding an untapped market and opening it up.
Very profound tips! I hope I can find a good niche with is also pretty profitable with less competition. Can you suggest a good keyword research tool I can use? Thanks!
Hi Sab, I use a tool that comes as part of a hosting package. It’s under a $1 a day but the site I have hosted with them makes me more than that in ad revenue. Here’s the thing, I get to use the keyword tool and a whole host of other tools without it costing me anything. In fact, I am making money from the deal. I use a variety of the web research tools provided by SBI, especially the master keyword tool. It gives me an amazing array of data on every keyword I have ever wanted to use. Take a look for yourself. Click on either of the above links and read about these tools.
Long but really a thoughful and informative article Matthew! Does anyone here find data GKT (Google’s keyword tool) inaccurate? I often experienced that search they show for keywords are sometime 10-15 times higher than actual searches. It becomes difficult to predict exact search and traffic with that.
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I’ve been using it for my keywords research and I’ve found it working fine. I think, there’s no accurate tool for keyword hunting.All we need to do is to make them work and valuable. It all depends on you goal and the intensity of work.
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It was really interesting to read. I hope this is helpful
Success in internet business is achieved through knowledge,information and organized effort.
Dont expect a quick success, in order for you to reach that success you must work hard and have a double time working on it.
I agree it’s better to target niche terms, the competition is so fierce, you should not go after the catch all terms. Making guest articles that this one is also a great idea for would be Internet businesses.
thanks for sharing these valuable tips. your advices could be useful for Ecommerce as well which our company specialize in
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